27 July 2009
22 July 2009
Gryffindor!
We went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Grandma Willow made Naters a Hogwarts scarf, and she is pretty certain he belongs in the Gryffindor House.
So, dear readers, please leave a comment and tell us to which Hogwarts House YOU belong, and why.
So, dear readers, please leave a comment and tell us to which Hogwarts House YOU belong, and why.
13 July 2009
06 July 2009
The Problem of Evil? More Like the Problem of Theodicy!
I had an interesting discussion at work, prompted by someone else (You know who you are, if you bothered to find my blog. And if so, ha! I am onto you, and you definitely have better things to be doing with your time.) reading about the Old Testament law and wisdom literature and then coming to talk to me about (among other things) Job and Ecclesiastes. Yes, I sometimes talk about this stuff at work, and it prompts me to think about things.
The "problem of evil" has been a popular topic of discussion for centuries, or millenia, rather. As Christianity (and the Hebrew religion prior to it) professes a God Who is both all-powerful and completely good, philosophers and other people have been drawn to grapple with the question of how such a God could and would permit evil to exist. The idea of the "theodicy" developed as a means to vindicate God with respect to the existence of evil.
Now, why do we think God needs our help? While I grieve as deeply as anyone for the suffering of the innocent in the world (I would rescue and care for all babies and kittens, if I could... puppies, too, on a generous day.), I have never felt that I needed to defend God with respect to anything of this nature. He is more than capable of taking care of Himself, and my duty is rather to live as a redeemed person and spread His Good to a hurting world.
Interestingly, Herch put up a post about this very topic. His view of God is similar to mine, and I would add that while people like to whine about their suffering and pretend that they reject God's Lordship out of some sense of outraged justice (And how amusing is this, really?), in reality, the vast majority of unbelievers that I know refuse to turn to God out of pride and a desire to maintain lordship of their own lives. They have no desire to live in such a way as to open their lives up to God's blessings and allow themselves to be turned into blessings themselves, to mitigate the evil they pretend to be protesting. And so I challenge the whiney people: You don't do what GOD wants. So why all this fuss when God won't do what YOU want? I know, that seems a bit overly simple. There is more to it. And yet, when you get right down to it, the bottom line is just simple.
God is God. You are not. The evil that you see as a problem comes from YOU, from YOUR heart, spilling out through YOUR actions. God doesn't want evil to happen, but He has not yet crushed it out of existence because to do so would mean crushing you (and all of us human beings) out of existence, and He is giving you (and all of us) opportunity after opportunity to make things right with Him. Eventually, evil will stop existing (Rev 21-22).
The "problem of evil" has been a popular topic of discussion for centuries, or millenia, rather. As Christianity (and the Hebrew religion prior to it) professes a God Who is both all-powerful and completely good, philosophers and other people have been drawn to grapple with the question of how such a God could and would permit evil to exist. The idea of the "theodicy" developed as a means to vindicate God with respect to the existence of evil.
Now, why do we think God needs our help? While I grieve as deeply as anyone for the suffering of the innocent in the world (I would rescue and care for all babies and kittens, if I could... puppies, too, on a generous day.), I have never felt that I needed to defend God with respect to anything of this nature. He is more than capable of taking care of Himself, and my duty is rather to live as a redeemed person and spread His Good to a hurting world.
Interestingly, Herch put up a post about this very topic. His view of God is similar to mine, and I would add that while people like to whine about their suffering and pretend that they reject God's Lordship out of some sense of outraged justice (And how amusing is this, really?), in reality, the vast majority of unbelievers that I know refuse to turn to God out of pride and a desire to maintain lordship of their own lives. They have no desire to live in such a way as to open their lives up to God's blessings and allow themselves to be turned into blessings themselves, to mitigate the evil they pretend to be protesting. And so I challenge the whiney people: You don't do what GOD wants. So why all this fuss when God won't do what YOU want? I know, that seems a bit overly simple. There is more to it. And yet, when you get right down to it, the bottom line is just simple.
God is God. You are not. The evil that you see as a problem comes from YOU, from YOUR heart, spilling out through YOUR actions. God doesn't want evil to happen, but He has not yet crushed it out of existence because to do so would mean crushing you (and all of us human beings) out of existence, and He is giving you (and all of us) opportunity after opportunity to make things right with Him. Eventually, evil will stop existing (Rev 21-22).
Happy 17th!
Nathan is 17 months old TODAY.
He has been working on some more teeth, and is putting out some molars!
He has been working on some more teeth, and is putting out some molars!
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